Two Israeli tourists found safe as flash floods kill 12 in Jordan

Foreign Ministry confirms renewed contact with travelers after earlier concerns for their well-being

Jordanian rescue teams search for missing persons following flash floods in the city of Madaba near the capital Jordan on November 10, 2018. (KHALIL MAZRAAWI / AFP)
Jordanian rescue teams search for missing persons following flash floods in the city of Madaba near the capital Jordan on November 10, 2018. (KHALIL MAZRAAWI / AFP)

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Saturday it had managed to make contact with all previously missing Israeli travelers in southern Jordan amid deadly flash floods across several areas that have so far claimed the lives of 12 people since Friday.

The ministry had earlier said two Israeli tourists were unreachable but later stated that they had been found.

An additional four Israeli tourists in Jordan were said earlier to be safe.

The death toll from flash floods rose from seven on Friday to 12 on Saturday and the kingdom’s main tourist attraction, the ancient city of Petra, was closed for cleanup after what local officials said was the biggest deluge in the area in decades.

Jordanian rescue teams search for missing persons following flash floods in the city of Madaba near the capital Jordan on November 10, 2018. (KHALIL MAZRAAWI / AFP)

Those killed included two children and a diver who had been involved in rescue efforts, according to state media and Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghuneimat.

On Saturday, rescuers continued the search for missing people around the Wala reservoir in central Jordan. In the southern town of Maan, authorities opened a shelter for dozens of people whose homes were surrounded by water.

Friday’s floods struck several areas of Jordan. The torrents came two weeks after 21 people, most of them children, were killed in flash floods near the Dead Sea. The tourism and education ministers resigned over the Dead Sea flooding.

In Petra, the ancient trade hub carved into rose-hued rocks, heavy rains began at around 1 p.m. Friday and last for about 40 minutes, said Rafael Dorado, 41, a tourist from Spain.

At about 3 p.m., a torrent of water came gushing through the site’s steep and narrow access canyon, flooding the area within minutes, he said. Delgado said he was observing from a hilltop temple in the area, but saw other visitors scrambling to higher ground. He said some visitors were later evacuated by trucks and others made their way out on foot.

Suleiman Farajat, the chief administrator in Petra, said the site would remain closed Saturday, but would likely reopen Sunday. He said he’s never seen flooding of such intensity in the area.

“It’s really, I wouldn’t say scary, but surprising how huge the flood was,” he said.

Amateur video posted online showed a powerful torrent rushing through the steep, narrow canyon through which visitors reach the Treasury, the main attraction of Petra, an ancient trading hub carved from rose-colored rock.

The video showed several hundred visitors crowded on a patch of higher ground near the Treasury as local guides helped one woman through surging water toward safety.

“We made it,” she shouted as she rejoined her group.

In one incident in a village in the Madaba region, south of the capital of Amman, flooding swept away a vehicle carrying members of a family, Civil Defense officials said. An 11-year-old girl was killed, another girl was seriously injured and divers were searching for three other members of the family.

In the Dabaa area, also south of Amman, two women and a girl were killed in the floods which also forced the closure of a desert highway. A large number of cars were stuck, Ghuneimat said.

More than 3,600 tourists visited Petra on Friday, and efforts were continuing to evacuate them.

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